This week, RCRC staff visited the County of San Luis Obispo to meet with the Board of Supervisors and CAO, and officially welcome them to the RCRC family. The San Luis Obispo Board of Supervisors include Supervisor Frank Mecham (District 1), Supervisor Bruce Gibson (District 2), Supervisor Adam Hill (District 3), Supervisor Lynn Compton (District 4), and Supervisor Debbie Arnold (District 5). Supervisor Compton serves as Chair, and is the San Luis Obispo County Delegate on the RCRC Board of Directors.

The County of San Luis Obispo is one of the largest employers in the area, with more than 2,800 individuals working to enhance the economic, environmental and social quality of life in the area. Established in 1850 as one of the original counties of California, the County has 24 departments all working collaboratively to provide essential services that benefit local citizens.

Further information on the SLO County Board of Supervisors can be accessed here. The RCRC press release welcoming them to membership can be accessed here.

Last Wednesday the Senate unveiled Budget trailer bill language for the “No Place Like Home” (NPLH) proposal, which Governor Brown recently endorsed as part of his Fiscal Year 2016-17 May Revision. Although the NPLH proposal was initially introduced by the Senate in January, draft legislative language was not available until late last week. While some specific details regarding the mechanics of the bond component are still under development, the NPLH initiative aims to provide $2 billion in bond financing – supported through a portion of Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) funding – to construct permanent supportive housing to address local communities’ chronic homeless and mentally ill populations.

Specifically, the NPLH proposal would use MHSA funding to finance up to $1.8 billion in competitive financing to support the development or refurbishment of supportive housing, $200 million in non-competitive financing for counties as a “first wave,” and $6.2 million in funding to provide technical assistance and grant preparation assistance to counties. For the competitive component of the proposal, counties would be grouped into the following categories for purposes of competing: Los Angeles, Large, Medium, and Small. The competitive process will include at least four rounds of funding. In addition, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) would be responsible for developing guidelines and regulations in conjunction with an appointed advisory committee.

RCRC, the California State Association of Counties (CSAC), Urban Counties of California (UCC), and the County Behavioral Health Directors Association of California (CBHDA) met with leadership from the Senate, Department of Finance (DOF), and HCD last Friday to discuss a number of concerns and technical issues the groups have with the proposal. Although RCRC, CSAC, and UCC do not have a formal position on the proposal, staff from these respective county organizations worked together to develop consensus over proposed amendments to address a number of policy concerns and technical components of the proposal. These requests included:

Increasing the proportion of funds available in the noncompetitive process;

Identifying counties as sole applicants for funds (but preserve the option for those counties who are working with or want to co-apply with a developer);

Adding two more county representatives on the advisory committee: from 1 CAO/Supervisor and 1 Behavioral Health Director to 2 CAOs/Supervisors. (1 from large, 1 from small), 1 BH Director, and 1 county staff/planner/housing staff person to provide more technical expertise and better communicate with HCD;

Requesting that local members are appointed by statewide associations, as done throughout current law and practice;

Broadening the proposed alternative process by allowing counties from each competitive grouping to apply;

Clarifying whether a county can participate in both the alternative and competitive processes;

Capping amount available through alternative process (somewhat dependent on whether a county can participate in both alternative or competitive or not);

Adding language to the alternative process to require the use of the four competitive groupings; and,

Adding a section reflecting CBHDA’s simple structural request to allow MHSA funding to be used for housing vouchers outside of Full Service Partnerships.

New draft amendments were received today from the Senate. Although some minor technical amendments requested by RCRC, CSAC, UCC and CBHDA were incorporated in the draft, many major requests were not accepted. We will continue to meet with the Legislature and the Administration over the next couple days to reiterate changes needed to the proposal. Additionally, the DOF and the State Treasurer’s Office are in the process of developing language that will provide more specifics as to how the bond revenue financing component will be implemented. However, Fiscal Year 16-17 is not included in the proposal, meaning counties that are currently developing budgeting plans for MHSA-funded programs should not see any impacts in the next fiscal year. It is our understanding that specific language will be released in the coming days. The current version of the NPLH Budget Trailer Bill language is available here.

The U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region (Region) has released draft forest plan updates and environmental impact statements for the three “early adopter” forests undergoing the planning process in California. The Region will be accepting written comments through August 25, 2016, and will be holding a series of public meetings, tribal forums, and a webinar to discuss the drafts with interested stakeholders beginning on June 13, 2016.

The webinar will take place on June 28, 2016, and participants must register here. The project webpage can be accessed here.

In 2014, landmark water legislation – Senate Bill 1168 (Pavley) and Assembly Bill 1739 (Dickinson) – were chaptered establishing the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), thus providing a framework for local agencies to develop plans and implement strategies to sustainably manage groundwater resources within a defined period. As such, one of the many requirements is that local agencies must form groundwater sustainability agencies.

In order to help with this effort DWR is offering in-kind facilitation services to support local efforts including forming groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) and developing groundwater sustainability plans (GSPs) to meet the requirements of the SGMA.

Facilitation support services from contracted professionals include strategic planning, stakeholder assessments, meeting facilitation, mediation, governance assessment, and public outreach services. Requests for facilitation support services will be evaluated on a regular basis, and support will vary based on need and funding availability. To date, one facilitation project has been completed, 14 projects have been funded and are underway, another six projects are in various stages of the approval process, and four applications are pending.

Additional information and details on program eligibility and submittal requirements can be accessed here.

AB 1749 (Mathis): CEQA: Exemption: Recycled Water Pipeline. Assembly Bill 1749 would extend the exemption, until January 1, 2018, from CEQA requirements on projects consisting of the construction or expansion of recycled water pipeline and directly related infrastructure within existing rights of way, and directly related groundwater replenishment under specified conditions and undertaken for the purpose of mitigating drought conditions for which a state of emergency was proclaimed by the Governor. Status: Gained passage in the Assembly. RCRC Position: Support

AB 2438 (Waldron): CEQA: Exemption: Recycled Water Pipelines. Assembly Bill 2438 would, until January 1, 2020, exempt from CEQA a project for the construction and installation of a new pipeline or the maintenance, repair, restoration, reconditioning, relocation, replacement, removal, or demolition of an existing pipeline, not exceeding 8 miles in length, for the distribution of recycled water within a public street, highway, or right-of-way. Status: Gained passage in the Assembly. RCRC Position: Support

AB 2678 (Gray): State-Designated Fairs: Funding. Assembly Bill 2678 would dedicate the State portion of the sales and use tax collected from transactions at fairgrounds except for Los Angeles to support small and medium sized fairs. Status: Gained passage in the Assembly. RCRC Position: Support

SB 1170 (Wieckowski): Public Contracts: Water Pollution Prevention Plans: Delegation. Senate Bill 1170 would prohibit a public entity, charter city, or charter county from delegating to a contractor the development of a plan, as defined, used to prevent or reduce water pollution or runoff on a public works contract, except as provided. The bill would also prohibit a public entity, charter city, or charter county from requiring a contractor on a public works contract that includes compliance with a plan to assume responsibility for the completeness and accuracy of a plan developed by that entity. Status: Gained passage in the Senate. RCRC Position: Oppose

SB 1188 (McGuire): Wildlife Management Areas: Payment of Taxes and Assessments. Senate Bill 1188 will return the ‘may’ back to ‘shall’ in Fish and Game Code Section 1504 making future Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) payments required rather than permissive. Status: Gained passage in the Senate. RCRC Position: Support

SB 1317 (Wolk): Conditional Use Permit: Groundwater Extraction Facility. Senate Bill 1317 would require a city or county overlying a basin designated as a high or medium priority basin to establish a process for the issuance of conditional use permits for the development of a groundwater extraction facility in order to prevent that facility from contributing to or creating an undesirable result. Status: Gained passage in the Senate. RCRC Position: Oppose

Lake and Streambed Alteration Program Fee Increase. Proposes to increase all fees by 129 percent, and establishes a fee for remediation of marijuana cultivation sites. Agency: California Department of Fish and Wildlife Status: Draft available for public comment, comment period ends June 13, 2016. Public hearing scheduled in Sacramento on June 13, 2016. Draft proposal and related documents can be accessed here. RCRC Comments: RCRC’s comment letter can be accessed here. RCRC Advocate: Staci Heaton sheaton@rcrcnet.org